2014 Year in Review

2013– Worked on The Bird Fairies. Got it finished. Revised, etc. Cut many many words and polished it up. I also started submitting Carmine Rojas: Dog Fight to publishers and it was accepted by the second press I subbed to Black Opal Books.

Started querying The Bird Fairies in 2014 with I don’t know- fair to mediocre query letters, which where honed and rewritten throughout the entire year. It started off promising. I got a full request through an agent “contest” right out of the gate. Then began the downhill slide. Queried The Bird Fairies to a list of well researched agents and medium size presses who represent/publish MG fiction. Got three full requests, all from the presses, and all three rejected the book. Received one partial request that resulted in a rejection, and one partial which is still out.

In the meantime I submitted two short stories, both completed a year or more ago. One- “Rose Meets a Gentleman” was published in Luna Station Quarterly. The other came very close to acceptance but was ultimately rejected as well.

Submitted the novel Tea Times Three to Black Opal and it was accepted for publication, though, due to the post office losing the contract I didn’t know it had been accepted for the longest time! Tea Times Three was also written over the course of five years, and I only finished editing it in 2014.

Started and quit on an AWESOME high concept idea for a Middle Grade novel-possible series, that bloated to immense proportions while I stupidly and lovingly indulged in lots of description and some 80 pages of “getting the team together” shenanigans that amounts to a shit ton of talking and interpersonal relationships. NONE of which will fly in MG. It’s also unsubmittable to agents at the projected two or three book length. Had The Bird Fairies netted me an editorial agent who doesn’t mind spitballing, it could be workable, but the kind of advice/help I need on it can only come from a professional or a better writer than I.

Started two more novellas, And Then Someone Gets Stabbed, the sequel to Carmine Rojas: Dog Fight, and a fairy tale retelling of The Light Princess which has no working title yet (I just call it The LP). Neither of which I finished due to-

Igor my dear friend and companion parrot died. His death hit me hard and sucked away a lot of my motivation to write. Also by November The Bird Fairies had been unilaterally rejected by nearly agent on my submission spreadsheet. Mostly now I’m just waiting for the final coffin nails to arrive.

The Carmine sequel stalled out a little over halfway through but I will try to finish it in 2015, along with The LP.

I attended on convention with Carmine and one bookstore multi-author signing. Joined Twitter. Failed to market Carmine very well. And that’s about it.

It wasn’t a great year. It’s been a real struggle holding on and trying to write. A struggle to maintain any semblance or even the appearance of optimism. Which honestly has been slipping more and more.

For 2015– I don’t know what I’ll do. I’m pretty lost right now. My only goals are market Tea Times Three, finish The LP and submit it SOMEWHERE. Finish the Carmine sequel. And then we’ll see. I might try some short fiction. I might not. I’d like to TRY to get another idea for another MG novel as that’s what I’d really like to be doing, writing MG fantasy novels. There is a collaboration or two on the horizon if I can keep up the writing and not break entirely.